Research Interests

My research broadly focuses on reconstructing changes in deep ocean temperature, chemistry, and circulation to understand oceanic controls on climate change. I am interested in the links between ocean biogeochemical cycles, atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change on timescales ranging from orbital variations (hundreds of thousands of years) to anthropogenic variations (decades to millennium). I make measurements of the chemical composition of fossils to document climate changes in the geologic record and use numerical models to investigate the ocean’s role in the climate system.

Some general areas of interest include:

• Reconstruction of glacial-interglacial changes in deep ocean temperature, circulation and chemistry using multiple paleotracers
• Using coupled models of ocean circulation and chemistry (including sediments) to investigate scenarios consistent with paleo-records of ocean and atmospheric chemistry
• Studies of living and recently living benthic foraminifera to develop new proxies and refine existing proxies of deep ocean chemistry and temperature (such as Mg, Sr, Ba, Ca, Mn and U in biogenic carbonates)

Education:

• Ph.D. Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara (2000)